This invention relates generally to virtual economies, and in particular, to creating, redeeming, and tracking virtual credits by a virtual currency system.
Virtual currency systems enable users to interact in a virtual environment by transacting with other entities in the virtual environment. Users may exchange virtual credits for a variety of different purposes, such as a purchase of goods or services from a vendor or a gift or payment between individuals. In some systems, virtual credits can also be exchanged for real currency, such as by purchasing virtual credits with real currency and/or redeeming virtual credits for real currency. Conventionally, however, all virtual credits are treated the same in virtual currency systems. In particular, virtual credits are created based on an original exchange rate, and they are redeemed for real currency at that same exchange rate.
Because of this limitation, it is difficult to distinguish among or otherwise enable different types of credits in conventional systems. For example, seeding credits to a user may involve creating credits without an initial cost or with a discounted cost. Then, when the seeded credits are transferred or redeemed, the seeded credits may need to be identified and/or their original cost tracked. Otherwise, the virtual currency system may not be able to distinguish the seeded credits from other credits in the currency system. Identifying the seeded credits may be necessary, for example, for providing the correct value upon redemption of the virtual credits or for other accounting requirements.
Discounting of goods or services in the virtual currency system may also involve creating credits that have different exchange rates for real currency. For instance, a vendor may desire to identify and accept virtual credits that have a real currency value (i.e., a redeemable value) that is lower than the actual value of the good or service in order to provide a discount to a user. But existing virtual currency systems, which are not able to create and track virtual credits having different characteristics, do not enable such discounting schemes.
These inherent limitations of existing virtual economies stem, at least in part, from their inflexible relationship with real currencies, such as how virtual credits may be exchanged for real currency. Moreover, existing virtual currency systems fail to provide adequate accounting mechanisms that enables higher level features in a virtual economy. Accordingly, there is a need for improved ways of creating, tracking, and redeeming virtual credits in a virtual currency system.